Jaime Blackerby

Jaime is an experiential marketing expert with more than 20 years of industry experience. She has extensive experience in onsite logistics, contract negotiations, security, venue management, food and beverage, breakout sessions, transportation coordination and VIP management. For five years, Jaime has been lead Event Producer for an annual tech conference produced by GPJ, successfully leading a core team through the complex planning cycle of the 15,000 person event. In 2020, Jaime's attention was focused on Covid Compliance, leading the GPJ Health & Safety Task Force. Together, the team has been successful in creating tried and true safety protocols, best practices and comprehensive safety plans for dozens of live engagements.

Daniel Blake

Rachel Boucher

Rachel has worked in journalism for more than a decade, cutting her teeth in the community newspaper circuit in Fairfield County, CT, covering local politics, people and wildlife. Among memorable assignments: completing firefighting training with the City of Hartford Fire Department, and interviewing families traveling for cancer treatments onboard a Corporate Angel Network flight. She was introduced to the branding world as a copywriter for New York-based design agency Stellabean, producing marketing materials for hospitality clients. She joined Event Marketer in 2012 and today serves as the managing editor, overseeing the production of the print magazine and the brand’s digital presence. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire's White Mountains, where she studied English and creative writing.

Matt Chelap

Matt Chelap is a Vice President at Octagon, Since joining Octagon in 2004, Matt has worked on and the world’s largest sponsorship consulting practice and a pioneer and leader in athlete and personality representation and management. Managed both domestic and international sports and entertainment sponsorship programs for key Octagon clients The Home Depot, Bank of America, Standard Chartered Bank, Georgia Power and PlayStation. In the process he has implemented strategic marketing campaigns and events around the world with such properties as the Standard Chartered Bank Belt & Road Relay, ESPN College GameDay Built by The Home Depot, the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl and multiple Super Bowls. Currently, Matt leads Octagon’s The Home Depot, PlayStation and Georgia Power account business. This account work includes jewel event activations, influencer programming, esports sponsorships, national mobile marketing tours, multicultural campaigns and the stewardship of industry renowned sponsorships and largescale property entitlements. Matt received his Bachelor of Science in Sports Marketing from Valparaiso University and his Masters of Education in Sports Marketing from the University of Georgia. He resides in Atlanta, GA.

James Giglio

Prior to founding MVP Interactive, James held successful management positions for small and mid-sized financial firms, leading teams to launch new products and deploy market strategies that helped grow the companies beyond expectations. Striving for a more creative outlet, James left the finance world for Advertising where his zeal for imagination and passion for sports and technology led to the formation of MVP Interactive. James’ vision in linking technology to consumer engagement has been paramount to the growth of MVP Interactive and along with his team, James’ passion to innovate, buck trends and embrace technology worldwide, has led MVP to develop prototypes and inventions into useful marketing products for some of the worlds largest brands and sports teams.

Jessica Heasley

Before coming to Event Marketer in 2007, Jessica spent 15 years in marketing and events, activating challenger brands at high-profile film festivals, producing non-profit events for local arts organizations and providing marketing support for event design and production studios. She once fixed a branded 1972 VW bus accelerator pump on the side of a highway in South Carolina with a paper clip and some string the night before a 30-city college tour. Today she serves as the Content Director for the Brand Activation Group at Access Intelligence, overseeing editorial content and strategy for Event Marketer and Chief Marketer magazines. She earned her master’s degree with honors from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2007, and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington.

Jennifer Hinkle

Jennifer Hinkle joined the Tennessee Titans in July 2019 as the team’s Senior Director of Marketing and Digital Strategy. In her current role, Hinkle is responsible for the development and implementation of integrated marketing solutions to support revenue growth, strategic oversight of digital platforms including the team’s website, mobile app, social media channels, and cutting-edge technology. She also oversees all club marketing communication, fan engagement platforms and programs, and business intelligence. Prior to joining the Titans, Hinkle spent 12 years with the Washington Redskins, most recently serving as their Vice President of Digital Marketing, responsible for optimizing digital technologies and media campaigns in support of strategic partnerships. She worked to improve fan engagement and experience, both in and out of stadium, through digital, social and mobile integrations, communication and analytics. From 2004-2007, Hinkle spent three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens in their digital media department, where she managed the team's websites, produced photo and video content for digital platforms, and contributed editorial and design work for team publications. Hinkle graduated from Clemson University with a B.S. degree in Graphic Communications and resides in Nashville.

Caren Holmes

Jenn King

Jenn is a Senior Account Director with over 15+ years of experience, helping clients strategically plan and implement multi-faceted experiences. Jenn began her tenor in the shows and event industry with tactical implementation with focus on several automotive brands. As she worked her way through different disciplines within the experiential landscape, learning and growing along the way, she soon found herself leading a team who guided her clients by making insightful recommendations and consistently pushing the envelope for more surprise and delight within live events. Today, her key focus is helping her clients and team continue to adapt and imagine endless possibilities for Live events in both the physical and digital landscape.

Kelly Knowlen

Kelly Knowlen is the Executive Director of Sales Engagement and Special Events at Hilton. In this role, she leads the execution and strategic priorities of Hilton Worldwide Sales customer events, industry events and internal conferences for the Americas. Following the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, she led the commercial workstreams to create and launch Hilton EventReady with CleanStay, the EventReady Playbook, a proprietary tool providing curated resources for teams and event planner customers, and Hilton EventReady Hybrid Solutions, a suite of offerings for event planner partners. Prior to her current role, Knowlen developed and launched Global Week of Sales and Ready to Rise, two global initiatives focused on increasing sales and customer engagement across the enterprise. Knowlen began her 28-year Hilton career as a Sales Manager at DoubleTree Concourse in Atlanta. She was later promoted to Director of Sales and Marketing followed by roles as Regional DOSM and for Hilton Corporate in Sales operations, global engagement and events.

Vanessa Leitman

Vanessa Leitman leads Experiential Marketing & PR at Resy, the hospitality technology company and dining brand owned by American Express. In her role she leads event strategy and is responsible for growing the Resy brand in the US and international markets through experiential. Since she joined Resy in 2017, the company has thrice been named a Fast Company Most Innovative Company with special recognition given to Resy’s creative restaurant programming, including The Resy Drive-Thru. Prior to joining Resy, Vanessa spent 10+ years at PR and Events agency Harrison & Shriftman - working first out of their NYC and later being recruited to lead their Miami office - building powerhouse hotel brands such as W Hotels, St. Regis, SLS, and JW Marriott. She led national initiatives for Mercedes Benz, GREY GOOSE Vodka, CHANEL, Prada, Elle Décor, VH1, Movado, Jaguar, Coach, PGA, Hewlett Packard, Sony Ericsson and Cartier, among many others. In 2014, Leitman joined the National YoungArts Foundation as Vice President of External Relations & Communication where she oversaw all brand development, marketing, public relations, digital strategy, community outreach and alumni relations, and worked to increase local and national visibility to strengthen and amplify the YoungArts brand.

Rhonda McNally

Rhonda McNally, the vice president of marketing for Magna International, is responsible for shaping the image of the brand inside and outside of the company. A 27-year Magna veteran, McNally played a pivotal role in crafting a unified voice for the global automotive giant, a major accomplishment for a sprawling organization with a decentralized structure. Under her direction, Magna shifted from a company with over 100 different websites, to one with a more cohesive brand strategy. Today, she is helping to reimagine stakeholder engagement in a digital world. Leveraging new tools and hosting live engagements that reiterate the message that Magna is not only one of the world’s top automotive suppliers, it is a global force that is defining the future of mobility. McNally graduated from the University of Michigan with a business degree. She is married and the mother of four daughters.

Rushenka Perera

Rushenka is currently the Head of Marketing for SAP Australia and New Zealand. She has a 25+ year career in marketing in technology organisations and has held roles that span across the Asia-Pacific and Japan. Her experience includes start-ups such as Pivotal, and large organisations such as SSA Technologies (now Infor).

Fiona Pullen

Fiona heads up the APAC region’s fast-growing production team, and brings more than 20 years’ experience in creative experiential design, technical production and end-to-end event management to the position. A versatile industry professional, she has worked on virtual, broadcast, live and hybrid events globally. Previous to her work in live and experiential events Fiona was an agency executive producer working in broadcast, film and post-production.

Hunter Qualls

Kirstie Rivard

Kirstie Rivard has been head of experiential with Visible wireless service since its inception in 2017, where she's led marketing efforts and initiatives to bring the digital brand of Visible to consumers in-real-life. She began her career in the technology sector working for several independent entrepreneurs before joining Verizon in 2002. In her Verizon tenure, she has been involved in bringing to market and supporting some of the most dramatic technology advancements in human history such as text messaging, smartphone technology, wireless Internet, mobile email, and 3G and 4G network upgrades. Kirstie also helped broker and support sponsorship relationships with several sports and hospitality organizations including Vail Resorts, Kroenke Sports, the Denver Broncos, REAL Salt Lake, the Utah Jazz, the Minnesota Vikings and the Kansas City Chiefs, and led technology partnerships including Samsung, Google and Motorola. She earned her degree from Denver University and remains loyal to her native state of Colorado and to her beloved Colorado Avalanche.

Heather Themelis

Damaris Toma

Damaris Toma is the Experiential Marketing Lead for LG Business Solutions US. A passionate marketer with over 10 years of experience, Damaris has led Social, Digital, Experiential, and Brand Sponsorship activations in various roles at Samsung Electronics, TOMS, simplehuman, and currently LG Electronics. She is a graduate of University of Illinois at Chicago, with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Business Administration.

Yen Tsutsumi

Yen is an experiential marketing professional with more than 20 years of experience leading cross functional teams to develop and deliver world class event marketing programs for Fortune 100 companies. Her career in experiential started with George P. Johnson (GPJ) in 1997 where she led large conference programs for top high-tech innovators in Silicon Valley. She later joined forces with several industry veterans to form a boutique marketing agency in 2004. As managing director, she built a formidable agency, employing close to 30 professionals in sales, event production, creative, and shop craftsmen to deliver for brands such as Nintendo, Peets Coffee, NVidia, and Microsoft – effectively living the entrepreneurial dream. In 2010, she returned to GPJ to lead the Event Production group in the Bay Area. She currently leads Integrated Production for GPJ West Coast as Sr. Vice President.